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Unknown Enemy
- Author
- Charles Dick
- Narrator
- Richard Trinder
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 11 November 2025
- Run Time
- 9 hours 39 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
The harrowing true story of Organisation Todt, the builders-turned-killers at the center of the Nazi war machine.
Whether it was military fortifications or grand cities designed to follow victory, Adolf Hitler turned to his loyal favorites for construction projects matching his imperial ambitions. Of the course of five years, he landed Organisation Todt, “the most impressive building programme since Roman times,” according to British intelligence. Headed by Albert Speer, the OT became a key partner to the SS and the Wehrmacht and led to the deaths of millions.
After Germany’s defeat, Organisation Todt largely slipped under the radar. Unknown Enemy is the first major account of their operations, which grew out of the largest system of exploited labor since the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Charles Dick takes us to OT sites across Europe, from the Arctic circle to the Balkans and deep into what the Third Reich termed its “eastern Lebensraum,” to reveal how the organization boosted the German war economy by plundering raw materials and manpower, working thousands of prisoners to death within the SS-run concentration camp system and outside it. Drawing on devastating personal testimonies and extensive archival research, Unknown Enemy unveils how Germany’s leading engineers and architects—neither soldiers nor policemen—got away with some of the gravest crimes ever perpetrated over the course of World War II.
Critics Review
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Nazi atrocities receive plenty of attention, but one murderous Reich institution has slipped under the wire…An impressively researched indictment of Hitler’s monumentally cruel construction organization.
Kirkus (Starred Review)
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Previous studies haven't provided a full accounting of the atrocities committed by its personnel, or under its oversight, because the OT has only been dealt with piecemeal . . . In the OT, competent professionals working independently of direct Nazi control were willing and active participants in the worst crimes of the regime. The implications are sobering, and this compelling telling offers new insight into the operations of a fascist state.
Booklist, starred review
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Riveting, timely and truly revelatory. The Organisation Todt is the Nazi-era secret that still needs to emerge from the shadows. Charles Dick’s book does that and so much more.
Damien Lewis, author of AGENT JOSEPHINE and MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE
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Deeply researched, thorough and well argued – an excellent study of an often forgotten part of the Nazi past
Jan Rüger, author of HELIGOLAND
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Engagingly written and impressively well-researched, Unknown Enemy will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and the Second World War
Christian Goeschel, author of MUSSOLINI AND HITLER
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Charles Dick
- Narrator
- Richard Trinder
- Duration
- 9 hours 39 minutes
- Release Date
- 11 November 2025
- ISBN
- 9781639737468
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Second World War, Military history, History of engineering and technology, Slavery, enslaved persons and abolition of slavery
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Unknown Enemy by Charles Dick, read by Richard Trinder.The harrowing true story of Organisation Todt, the builders-turned-killers at the center of the Nazi war machine.Whether it was military fortifications or grand cities designed to follow victory, Adolf Hitler turned to his loyal favorites for construction projects matching his imperial ambitions. Of the course of five years, he landed Organisation Todt, “the most impressive building programme since Roman times,” according to British intelligence. Headed by Albert Speer, the OT became a key partner to the SS and the Wehrmacht and led to the deaths of millions. After Germany’s defeat, Organisation Todt largely slipped under the radar. Unknown Enemy is the first major account of their operations, which grew out of the largest system of exploited labor since the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Charles Dick takes us to OT sites across Europe, from the Arctic circle to the Balkans and deep into what the Third Reich termed its “eastern Lebensraum,” to reveal how the organization boosted the German war economy by plundering raw materials and manpower, working thousands of prisoners to death within the SS-run concentration camp system and outside it. Drawing on devastating personal testimonies and extensive archival research, Unknown Enemy unveils how Germany’s leading engineers and architects—neither soldiers nor policemen—got away with some of the gravest crimes ever perpetrated over the course of World War II.
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